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[snip] History has not been kind to King Darius or to the Persian Empire itself... To the East, the Lydians, under the leadership of King Croesus... first struck gold coinage. Croesus struck coins with his likeness on them, and he was, at one time, the richest man in the primitive world, having literally thousands of pounds of Gold that he had turned into coins... As winter neared the Lydians withdrew their army, but the Persians did not follow suit. Instead, they advanced and placed the Lydian capital at Sardis under siege. After a two-week siege, the city fell and was overwhelmed by Persian forces... As Alexander the Great subjugated the Persian Empire, he did one thing that many conquering kings did. He gathered as many Gold Persian coins as he possibly could as tribute and as bounty and melted them and re-struck them in his own image... Daric gold coins were exchanged for Macedon Gold coins. The Daric coins were gathered and melted. They were then re-struck, but now bearing the head of Alexander the Great. Persian Daric gold coins are especially scarce for that reason. The conquering Macedons sought to eliminate them from their new empire. The coins that were able to survive to today were hidden for centuries and they escaped in very limited numbers. [/snip]
King Darius of the Persian Empire | APMEX | December 29, 2022

['Civ footnote: When Alexander the Great[est] took Persepolis, he got the entire Persian royal treasury, probably the greatest such haul of all time.]